UFC 300 | ATEX Sportswear

After losing to the Brazilian Alex Pereira for the UFC light heavyweight championship belt in November, Jiří BJP Procházka is awaiting a fight with the Austrian Aleksandar Rakić, which will take place on April 13, 2024 at UFC 300 in Las Vegas.

Match Procházka vs. Rakić

Already on the night from Saturday to Sunday, as part of UFC 300, we can expect a match between Jiří BJP Procházka and Aleksandar Rakić. Due to injuries on both sides, the duel, which had been brewing for years, did not take place. "Aleksandar Rakić has been targeting me for a long time and I'm glad that I can now fulfill his wish to fight me. I'm really looking forward to the match because he has an attractive style and is very dangerous. But I want to show him that I am on a completely different level," Jiří said.

Jiří Procházka is in the 2nd position in the UFC rankings in the light heavyweight category, Rakić holds the 5th place. Rakić already has 8 fights in the UFC - 6 wins and 3 losses. Jiří has 3 wins and one loss in the UFC.

In 12 years of his career, Jiří collected 29 wins, 25 of which were knockouts. Aleksandar has 14 wins (including 9 knockouts), 3 losses and no draws.

Who is Aleksandar Rakić?

Rakić was born in Vienna to a Serbian family. He played football as a child, but was expelled from the team for his aggressiveness. He started kickboxing at the age of 12 and switched to MMA at the age of 20. He has been part of the famous American Top Team for many years. He made his UFC debut on September 2, 2017 in a fight against Francimar Barroso and has a total of 8 fights in the UFC.

His kicks are very dangerous, whether they are low kicks or high kicks. He often uses a reverse (left-handed) guard in matches, and his style is based on a great movement where he keeps his front foot out a lot.

Rakić returns after a nearly two-year hiatus forced by a knee injury from May 2022, when he tore a ligament in his knee in the 3rd round against Jan Blachowicz. Despite the long inactivity, he held the 5th place in the world ranking. His return was supposed to take place on January 20, 2024, when a rematch with Blachowicz was planned, but it was canceled due to an injury to the Polish opponent. Rakić's 9th fight in the UFC will take place on April 13 at UFC 300 with Jiří BJP Procházka.

Jiří's preparations for UFC 300

Before the match with Pereira, Jiří was troubled by illnesses and injuries, which he admitted only after the match. In preparation for UFC 300, he made a number of changes and worked on mistakes from the last duel with Alex Pereira. He wanted to learn as much as possible from the defeat that came after 8 years and a streak of 13 wins.

He evaluates the current preparation as very successful. The warrior returned to the road on it, leaving behind the search for the cleric. "It was one of the best preparations, I got out of the bottom of my mind. I am grateful to the people around me, because sometimes I need to straighten up, get a slap in the face and realize where the right path is," commented Jiří.

He was going back to his roots in training. "I am always looking for and will never stop being a better version of myself. But then it drove me to the stages where I was already inventing bullshit. In this preparation, we bet on simplicity, bombs, repetition and a non-stop routine," explains Jiří. Coach Martin Karaivanov summarized the basic principles of preparation as relaxation, a positive perception of new techniques, but at the same time cutting everything complicated down to absolute simplicity.

UFC 300 in Las Vegas

The main event will feature a light heavyweight title fight. Former champion Jamahal Hill (12-1), returning from a 15-month hiatus due to a torn Achilles, will face current light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira (9-2), who won the title in a November 2023 fight with Jiří Procházka . Zhang Weili and Yan Xiaonan face each other in the main preliminaries.

With the main card, the UFC is targeting American fans in particular. That is why the match Procházka vs. Rakić, who was supposed to be on the main card of UFC 300, was moved as the main event to the Prelims. So it will come as the 8th game on Sunday between 2:00 and 3:00 approximately. “I expect less attention, but I don't care. My match is always the main thing for me, and I don't care if there are cameras there," commented Jiří.

We wish Jiří that this match will be a successful step towards regaining the UFC champion belt.